It’s Not A 240 // Gaincarlo’s RHD big-turbo Silvia.

“It’s not a 240.” This is a phrase Giancarlo has probably had to utter more times than he can count since finishing his 2001 Nissan Silvia. As a tattoo artist, automotive fabricator and connoisseur of all things bad-ass, Giancarlo is more than just your typical car guy. Whether it’s designing your next chest piece, or building a project car, his level of dedication to perfection and detail rise like a phoenix out of the drivel that sometimes consumes current car culture.

Photos By: Jason Paul exclusively for StanceNation.com

Giancarlo received the imported RHD Silvia before you in January of 2012. The car is Spec C which denotes that the car did not come equipped with a sunroof, LSD or the Spec R motor with 6 speed tranny. The car came to Giancarlo with a Spec R swap, but he knew before it arrived that the 4 cylinder would be at the curb in no time. In fact, the night it was delivered, and before it was even started, the entire engine and drive train was removed! Originally, Gian says that the Silvia was going to get treated to a turbo LS3 swap, but he decided to keep it Nissan instead.

“The car is too rare to be doing rolling burnouts at 70 mph, plus what’s not love about that RB sound.” Gian said. He immediately began sourcing what would become the heart of this beast, and weeks later an importer delivered an RB25 plucked from an R33 Skyline. The first thing Giancarlo addressed was a full wire tucked bay to show off the future fabrication that was to happen under the hood. One of the most impressive parts about this Silvia is that he and his brother crafted so much from scratch. The tanks are all custom made along with the intercooler piping and miscellaneous odds and ends that tie the bay together. In addition, every single component involved in building the RB25, from the APR head studs to the custom stainless 3mm manifold were installed and executed at the hands of Giancarlo and his brother. he says.

Giancarlo ultimately decided on a Precision 6766 turbo to bring the new inline-six to life. The complete list of parts under the hood reads something like a grocery list for a family of 25! At the end of the day a fully tuned AEM EMS module provides the brain to this monster. The Silvia’s brakes were upgraded and rebuilt with Brembo’s from an STI.

Anyone that knows Giancarlo knows he has way to many Subaru parts laying around, so this seemed like a no brainer. “With the Silvia being such a light car, the car stops pretty quick. It’s more than enough for a street car.” says Gian. The clean stock interior was then freshened up with an array of Gauges to keep Gian “in the know” along with a Spec R steering wheel. Giancarlo actually found someone selling an S15 drivers seat locally. Someone bought it to use as a drivers seat in their LHD 240, this must have been quite the facepalm for the original purchaser! Once the interior and bay were proper, the exterior and suspension became the focus.

Giancarlo opted for a set of Fortune Auto coilovers mated to 19×9.5 +12 and 19×10.5 +12 Varrstoen ES2’s wrapped in 225/35 and 245/35 Falken rubber. When asked why Varrstoen instead of TE37’s, he says “They’re round, just like any wheel. Whatever. $5,000 wheel builds over rides fabrication these days. This isn’t that car.” Lastly the car sports a full Vertex body kit to draw some added aggression out of the Silvia’s already menacing looks. In closing Giancarlo would like to give a shout out to his brother as well as his Tuna Crew buddy’s. “Without them, the car would still be in the garage collecting dust.”

The replica wheels destroy the overall feel for the ride. He should have got a replica Vertex kit for the car too if he was going to throw some fake wheels. There are plenty alternative legit designs wheels that don’t cost a fortune. Just a shame to ruin such a nice build with inferior products.

Come on dude.. the rest of the car, the whole build is very well done. Just look at the mods list. You can’t discredit a whole build by being angry that he’s not pushing wheels that were deemed cool by the stance community mainly because they are generally unobtainium

They’re not unobtainable, he could afford an RB swap, 6766, full on wire tuck. It’s not a matter of how expensive they are or aren’t or if they’re “deemed cool” it’s the fact they are inferior material and stolen design!

Because the real matter is: in 10 years, you’ll look at these photos and realize that they really look the same as those big name wheels.

The guy who shelled out? He’ll be wishing for that money back because those bad-ass wheels are now out of style pieces of junk. His head and ego was huge when they were new, but 10 years later hes just going to remember the good old days. New and better is always around the corner.

Get real. The guys wheels are knockoffs of TE37 and its a classic design from Volk. It’s never going out of style. Also, all replica wheels are usually copies of popular wheel designs from reputable companies, hence Varrostoens biting the TE37. Never seen Varrostoen with legit wheel designs.

Yet another excellent car ruined by fake wheels. “They’re round, just like any wheel.” You get a RHD Silvia imported and do a r33 skyline RB transplant then cut corners on the wheels. Its like saying yeah, I have a corvette but I put a 4 cylinder in it because its just like any engine.

Except for that cutting corners on an engine is way out of league in comparison to rolling on reps. If he had put volks on it that looked identical color wise would you really have known the difference? If you think its ruined why don’t you buy real wheels for him to put on it.

They would help out on his credibility? The man built the entire car by hand with his brother including tucking wires and fabricating tons of parts from scratch. I think the car itself speaks MORE than enough for his credibility.

Technically, it is still a 2.5litre engine due the the block being from a rb25. The rb26 valve cover could be used for a bigger turbo compression rates, or the other one could’ve blown and he just found a cheap rb26 cover haha.

Heres to all the wheel snobs that think that rolling on reps is a crime. They look exactly the same so quit whining, and besides it’s on a rhd silvia so props to the guy that spent $5,000 on engine parts instead of wheels. Good for him.

If he could spend 5K on an engine, why not spend 3K+ on legit forged & lighter wheels. It’s pointless for all that power and have heavy 19 in. cast wheels. Incomplete build. If this was west coast build, then everything would be legit. No corners cut.

wheels are wheels when it comes down to driving a car/sliding/autoXing/whatever. as long as he doesn’t slap Volk Stickers on them (cause that takes away from Volk), but with that being said…its a legit imported silvia…if he can afford a RHD silvia, RB25 swap, and legit Vertex kit, then he can save up for some legit Japanese Wheels. Rotiform and other US companies make some sick ass wheels too!

Nonetheless, I like the car…it’s clean. personally, I would love to see it with some concave gold/bronze wheels/something different. Maybe some Advans or ADV1s>>>that would put the car on another level…

its pretty, but fake wheels show that they car more for looks than about the car. the fake valve cover shows that as well. again its a really nice car. just wish the owner took pride in everything and didnt build it for attention

It it a beautiful car. I can’t seem to understand why he’d have to tell people it’s not a 240. Not a very common thing to do a s15 rear end conversion.. Not digging the valve cover. What’s the point? Shave the 26 if it’s not a 26, false advertising right there. And yes, the wheels ruin the awesome build of the car, but not the car itself. This is all about stance is it not? It’s like seeing an r34 on rotas, total boner kill. He obviously doesn’t have money issues, so yes corners have been cut. Wound be sick on some bronze CEs

i’m a wheel whore. am not even going to lie. i like em all. if they look good, who gives a damn about the brand. i love my ssr’s and volks and bbs’s, but as stated before, if they look good, throw em on. too much energy is spent by the nazi’s talking smack about a car that isn’t theirs. its a fukin S15; show some appreciation. quit the hate. grow the peace.

First things first this car is incredible. Always been a huge fan of Silvias. Amazing build man. You do have “replica” wheels and wheel snobs are hatin on it. I don’t hate it. Do your thing. I love everything about this car.

all you stance f*** are concerned with the wheels? wheels are wheels just like its not like the varrstoens are squares and the te’s arent you guys need to credit the cleanliness and attention to detail besides unlike most off the pos’s posted this ones got some power to back her up

i guess the fact that its a legit s15 with a rb swap is overshadowed by the fact that he’s on reps. this is the reason why cars with a damn drop and “baller” wheels win trophies…oh wait i forgot the lip and 3k hid fogs.

For those who knock the reps. One question, do you have a car like this? Do you have real wheels? This car is amazingly done with reps or no reps. Don’t jump on the band wagon about having to have real wheels. Just admit the car looks awesome and get that stick outta your ***.

You all need to stop crying like little children because the guy put Varrstoens on a sick build like this. You form over function guys need to understand priorities. Who wants to spend 4000$ on wheels that’ll probably get f-ed up on the track? I’d rather put my money into the car itself, and make it a track monster, as opposed to 4000$ into wheels to make the brand whores happy. I bet half of your rides rolling on Volks push nothing close to what this guy is. But hey, at least you got your status parading wheels on, right?

Wow, it’s amazing how the internet is filled with bitching fishwives these days. The rb26 valve covers on rb25 help with oil catch cans as these allow for larger an fittings. I would biitch about a product being a knock off if it was beinv massed produced by a cheap labor abusing company in a developing country and sold for way more. Since this is not the case, I really don’t give a cheeseburger. Would not really matter if a varrstoen equipped car smoked a te37 equipped car. Rotational mass ard not that much of a difference anyways when comparing the two. Seen too many 5000$ wheels on sub 300hp cars That are all show and no go to give a fuck. Cars are made to be driven not hard parcked. If the owner likes it that way im happy for him, if you didnt give him the miney to buy the wheels or worse can’t afford em yourself but wanna hate the fuck off with your opinions.